A War Bird
by Autobot Guardian
Summary: There is one warrior in the universe that everyone fears. With a temper that is worse than all others in the universe combined, War Bird is a merciless fighter, yet still loyal to the Autobots. However, something happened in her past to make her unloving, and her beloved, Bluestreak, doesn't know why.
1. Chapter 1, A Past Revisited

As she looked upon the stars, a tall femme colored in red, yellow, and green wearing a battle mask and visor thought of when she had first been injured in a battle. _The pain, the anger, the overwhelming urge to KILL…_ She stood, and stretched her wings. Around her, tall trees stood as the forest was speckled with moonlight, and the femme walked out of the trees, and flew for the Ark. As she flew, she thought to herself, _I am the rage, I am the pain. I am War Bird, most fierce fighter, one who shall never feel love, one who shall fight until the end. One who shall help to destroy the Decepticons, once and for all._

* * *

 **Five Million Years Ago:**

* _War Bird, what's your position?_ *

The tall, beautiful femme activated her comm. link.

"I'm three klicks from the depot. I'm headed my way there now."

* _Good. Be careful. That Decepticon called 'The Shredder' is out that way._ *

War Bird smiled. "If I find him, I'll shred HIM." She turned off her comm. link and turned her silvery-white optics towards the depot. _The Shredder, huh? I bet he won't be THAT tough._ She started off at a run, then flared her wings and flew low over the battlefield. Suddenly, something grabbed her left wing and sent her crashing to the ground. Getting up, she saw a shorter, bulky mech with a strange device for a hand on his right arm. His sole left hand released her wing, and he bent down to look at her.

"So, you're the one called War Bird?" His voice was crackly and grainy, as if it was full of scrap metal chips. "You don't look like much. You're also too pretty. Well, I'll fix that for you." The device he had instead of his right hand started to make a whirring sound, and War Bird saw a dozed razor-sharp circular saw blades pop out and start to spin at a rapid rate. He swung it at her, and she quickly rolled out of the way.

"You must be the one they call The Shredder. I can see where you got the name." War Bird landed a solid roundhouse kick on the back of his neck. To her surprise, he swung around and grabbed her by the neck with his sole hand.

"That's right. And now, you are going to experience the pain that those who dare fight me feel." With that, he swung the shredding device on his right arm at her as she hung helpless from his grip. When it made contact with her face, she screamed in agony. Countless times, those blades sheared at her face until she managed to crush the joint to his left hand. He dropped her and staggered back, as she held her mangled face in her hands. Feeling a raging anger at being treated like that, War Bird took a giant rocket launcher out of subspace, and fired at him. The only thing left when the smoke cleared was his right arm.

"War Bird, are you…" She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't look at me!" She screamed. She covered her face, and flew away. She kept flying until she got to the secret Winged Guardian base, and she then ran into her quarters and did not come out for a long time. When she finally did come out, she had covered her face with a dark blue visor and a bright silver battle mask. She walked right to her leader.

"War Bird, why do you cover your face? Did something happen?"

"Sister and leader, may we speak of this in private?" War Bird looked at her leader evenly, but under the visor and battle mask, she was in pain.

"Very well. Let's take this to my quarters." Airstrike led the way to her quarters, and then they both sat down on her berth. "What did you want to talk about?"

Slowly, War Bird removed the battle mask and visor, and Airstrike recoiled in shock.

"Sister, what happened to you?!"

"It was the Decepticon called The Shredder. I killed him, but only after he ruined my face." She turned her face to the light, and Airstrike could see the countless cuts in her features. Both of her optics were still intact, but there were cuts in the metal around it, and some that went right over them. The bridge of her nose had a cut across it, and there were a multitude of cuts on the rest of her face.

"Oh, sister. Let me try to heal you." Airstrike focused her power, but when the light faded, the scars remained. "I-I don't understand. Why did it not work?"

War Bird started to cry then. "What will I do?" She put the battle mask and visor back on, so that her injuries and emotions were covered. She did not like her leader and eldest sister seeing her like that.

"I do not know. For now, we shall do what we can." Airstrike gently put her arms around the shoulders of her younger sister. _Since my powers could not heal her, I fear that she might never fully recover from these injuries. She might stay this way forever._ She did not say her thoughts out loud, for fear of triggering her younger sister's terrible wrath. She knew how angry she could get. Her wrath and temper was greater than those of all the other beings in the universe combined.

"Leader, will I be removed from duty?"

"No, never that."

"May I return to my quarters?"

"Of course." War Bird left, and Airstrike started to think about how to help her sister.

Once she had returned to her quarters, War Bird locked her door from the inside. She welded metal over her windows, and broke the security camera in her room. She then took off her battle mask and her visor, and started to try everything she could to fix her face. Every time she tried to weld the metal back together, it split apart again. finally, she gave up. _I don't want my beloved to see me like this. I don't want to feel bad for avoiding him either. I shall have to block my ability to love others, so I don't feel spark-broken for either avoiding them or them avoiding me because of my face._ She set to work building a new component for herself. When it was finished, she installed it, and she immediately felt all feelings of love disappear from her mind and spark. From that day on, she felt no love for others. She felt like she was a friend, and she could trust others, but she could not love them. She also kept her face hidden around others. The only times she would take off the visor and battle mask was when she was in private and sure that nobody was watching. And even then, she would only take them off to clean them. When she installed that component, her lack of love also caused a lack of mercy. She became little more than a living, cold-sparked killing machine.

* * *

 **Present Day:**

"War Bird is on Earth?" The silver and gray Datsun was stunned. He hadn't seen her for so long. When she suddenly started to avoid him, he was spark-broken. They had loved each other dearly.

"Yes. I know that this is a shock for you. That's why I called you to my office." A mech extremely similar to Bluestreak sat at the desk. He was white and black, and had the word 'POLICE' on his doorwings.

"But, Prowl, it's been so long. Why was she transferred here?"

"We needed another soldier here. Magnus and Elita had no spare soldiers, and Airstrike nearly refused. But then she remembered that War Bird mainly stayed in her quarters, doing nothing, so she was sent here to assist us. But Bluestreak… she's changed."

"I had realized that she had changed when she started avoiding me! Did she find another mech to be with? Or is it something else?"

"It's not a mech, far from it actually. From what little Airstrike told me, she was horribly wounded in a battle 5 million years ago, and blocked her own ability to love."

"But why would she do that?"

"You'll have to ask War Bird herself." Prowl looked back at the reports he was reading. "You are dismissed."

Bluestreak turned, and left. _She's alive? All this time, and she didn't even bother to try to contact me? Why? Why would she do that? Why would she block her own feelings of love?_ When he got outside to practice his sharpshooting, he saw her. Tall, graceful, and alluring, she was turned away from him. He stepped on a stick, and it snapped, causing her to turn towards him. His spark nearly stopped pulsing. Instead of the beautiful face he had known, there was now a battle mask and a visor completely covering her features, leaving nothing to be seen.

"Bluestreak?" Even when asking a question, her voice was flat, and had no affection in it at all.

"War Bird, I…"

"Come no closer." He was shocked by her reaction. Sure, he had known that she couldn't love him anymore, but he hadn't expected her to be _bitter_ towards him!

"War Bird, what's wrong?"

"I do not want to speak about it." Even with the visor over her optics, Bluestreak could feel them almost literally burning a hole in his head. _What made her change so much?_

"War Bird, you know that I would always love you, no matter what happened to you. Please, tell me why you suddenly started to avoid me!"

"I said that I don't want to discuss it!" With that, she stormed away and into the Ark. She had been told that she could choose her quarters from any of the available rooms. She chose the one that was closest to the center of the base, and was a spacious room. It had a single berth, and a few shelves, along with a few computer screens. She immediately programmed her code into the door, and she started to put her things on the shelves. She noticed the security camera in the corner, and she smashed it. Back in the control center, Red Alert almost fritzed out when he saw one of his screens go dark after seeing a fist flying towards it. War Bird continued setting up her things, when she came across a picture in her subspace pocket. It was millions of years old, and when she looked at it, she saw what her face had used to look like. Whole, beautiful, unmarked. She shook herself, and set the picture on the shelf farthest from the floor. She pulled out a small box, and set it on the lowest shelf.

* * *

"War Bird is a capable warrior, Prowl."

"I know that. But she's also temperamental and unpredictable. She's the most feared warrior in the universe. I've heard that she is unable to feel love, and thus is merciless." Prowl started to fiddle with a datapad as he remembered the reports that he had received from a few of the soldiers that had seen War Bird in action for the last 5 million years on Cybertron. The shed energon, the shredded limbs, the crushed sparks, the unyielding rage. He shuddered slightly, remembering one report where War Bird destroyed an entire Seeker battalion by herself. Not one Seeker survived.

"Prowl, she was the only spare soldier that I could find, and we need the help. Besides, I was there at the battle before she… changed."

"I realize that, Prime. But does it HAVE to be her? It's not just her battle record, it's also her history with Bluestreak. He hadn't seen her for 5 million years, but seeing her here might be too much for him."

"Prowl, I will not say this again. We need her. She was the only available soldier on Cybertron, so I didn't have any choice but to bring her to Earth." With that, Optimus Prime turned, and walked out of the room.

* * *

As she sat on her berth, she set up a cleaning station right next to it. Making sure that nobody would be able to see her, she took off her visor, then her battle mask. Taking out a few tools, she cleaned all of the accumulated debris out of the cuts on her face. The cuts that had been there since that battle 5 million years ago. After the cuts were clean, she cleaned her visor and battle mask, and then reattached them to her face. Setting the tools aside, she took up a sheet of metal, and an etching tool. Carefully controlling her hands, she started to draw. After a while, she placed them behind her berth, and went out the door.


	2. Chapter 2, A Secret Revealed

The tall, red, green, and yellow femme walked down the corridor. Nothing of her face could be seen behind the silver battle mask and the dark blue visor, and she walked with a calm, cool demeanor. Any who passed her gave her as much room as possible, not fooled by the surface calm. One mech, who was thin, and colored white and blue, turned invisible while passing her, so that she didn't see him. But the cloak didn't fool her. Her visor had upgrades that she herself made. She could see anything that was cloaked, among other things. She arrived at the rec room of the Ark, and walked in.

"Greetings, War Bird, my sister." Another tall, winged femme sat at a table at the far end of the room, alone. She was mostly purple, but also colored in red and green.

"Greetings, Battle Star." The femme named War Bird sat next to her sister, and they sat in a companionable silence for a while.

"War Bird, would you like anything to fill your tanks?" Battle Star looked at her sister, who shook her head. Leaning back, the two femmes began to use their silent comms to tell each other about the battles they have been in, and the 'Cons they have killed. Across the room, the mechs started to talk about them.

"Those femmes, they are no better than 'Cons sometimes!"

"Well, like it or not, they're Autobots. If one sister is an Autobot, then they all are. They don't like to fight each other."

"Yeah, but that War Bird, have you heard of the things she's done in battle?"

"Yes, but that's battle, nothing more."

"What about when she's in charge of interrogation?"

"She's not THAT bad."

"You didn't see what she did to Rumble the last time we captured him."

"What did she do to him?"

"She tore off his piledrivers and whacked him in the head with them."

"Wow… well, what about Battle Star? She seems nice."

"Yes, seems."

"She's not a cold-sparked killer!"

"If she was given the chance, she would tear all Decepticons limb from limb!"

"Only because they did the same thing, but worse, to her teacher!"

"Yeah, but how could her teacher be a Prime? We already have a Prime!"

"Well, she once said something about him being linked to the Matrix without having to possess it."

"Yeah, and I'm Megatron."

"Don't be like that!"

Suddenly, they all fell silent as the two femmes in question stood up together and walked out of the room. They waited until they were both out of hearing range, and then they started to talk again.

* * *

Up in the security room, Red Alert was listening to the conversations that the mechs were having about the two resident Winged Guardians with much interest. He wanted to learn as much as he could about the newest arrival, and he wanted to ascertain that she was no great threat to the crew of the Ark. So far, what he has heard has not given him favor towards her loyalty. He turned to a datapad he had recently acquired on a report from one of her battles. As he scrolled down, he found a video on it. He checked the date, and saw that it was around 5 million years ago. _What is this battle about? Who wrote this?_ He checked who wrote it, and saw that it was Optimus Prime himself! _Why would Prime write a report?_

As he watched the video, he saw that War Bird did not have a battle mask or a visor on. She was beautiful and she was fierce. Then, he saw a Decepticon with a dozen razor-saw blades for a right hand attacking her. He hoped, with all his might, that this video was not true. He watched as the video showed him the Decepticon holding War Bird up by the neck in his sole left hand, and pressing all 12 of his razors against her face. He had to mute her scream of agony, and he saw that the video was coming closer to where it was happening, but it seemed as if it was someone running closer. He saw War Bird pull a huge rocket launcher from her subspace, and fire at the Decepticon.

A huge explosion, and then War Bird standing without the launcher, and the razor-saw arm lying on the ground without a body. He saw a red arm and a blue hand reach out from behind whatever was recording the video and grasp her shoulder. He heard Prime's voice ask her if she was all right, then she screamed "Don't look!" as she hurriedly covered her face, but he suddenly stopped the video and went to right before her hands covered her face. _Primus…_ Her face was covered in cuts, and they were leaking all over her hands. _That's why she wears the mask and visor!_ He heard someone knock on the door, and he quickly hid the datapad after turning it off.

* * *

"Sister, can you tell me what happened?" Battle Star was sitting with War Bird in her quarters. She looked at War Bird's possessions, and saw many things that even she could not name. Battle Star had seen a lot, created a lot, but nothing like this! As she fingered a particularly striking sculpture, War Bird walked over to the shelves, and took down a small datapad.

"I-I cannot tell what happened, because it feels as if I would break something inside of me to tell at this moment. Though you are my sister, I know nothing about you except for what you told me about your life. I haven't really gotten to know you. I don't know if I can trust you, or anyone else here, yet. And my trust must be earned." War Bird turned the small datapad on, and looked at the picture. Battle Star turned away from the sculpture she had been looking at, and stared at the image on the datapad. It showed War Bird, before she had gotten her mask and visor. She was elegant, beautiful, and serene. The image changed, and Battle Star saw an image of War Bird sitting at a table with… Bluestreak? Battle Star couldn't believe her optics.

"Sister, is this really Bluestreak?"

"…Yes. He was a… friend." War Bird kept hesitating, trying to find the right words. Battle Star noticed this, but she chose to ignore it.

"Then can't you trust him? He's here, on the Ark."

"Yes, I saw him. But he… asked the impossible of me. He asked for too much." A bit of optic fluid started to seep out from the cracks between the visor and the mask, and Battle Star realized with a start that she was… _crying_.

"Sister, what's wrong?"

"Nothing… nothing, I'm fine." War Bird dried her tears, and put the images away. After that, Battle Star left the room, and War Bird sat on her berth, thinking about many things. Then, the alarm sounded.

* _All Autobots, report to the main entrance! There is Decepticon activity in Egypt! Prepare for battle!_ * Optimus Prime's voice boomed out over the loudspeaker system, and War Bird gathered herself, and marched out of her quarters. It was time to fight.

* * *

Sandstorms were frequent in the desert. Somehow, sand particles managed to find the small spaces between her face, the visor, and the battle mask, and finding their way into her 5 million-year-old injuries. _Scrap… I'm going to have to use the showers to get all the debris out. My tools aren't made for finding these tiny grains of glass!_ She flew on, heading the formation that was flying towards the site where Decepticons were attacking an Egyptian power plant.

* _War Bird, do you see anything?_ * She heard the voice of Optimus Prime over the comm.

"Negative. I'll have to switch to my special vision in my visor. Regular scans and visuals aren't able to cut through this. Prepare to receive the upgrades." Wirelessly, she sent the programming that would allow the special visors that were built for desert fights to see through the thickest of sandstorms. She flicked her own special vision on, and she could immediately see through the swirling sand. "I have a visual. Three klicks ahead of our position and to the east. Follow my lead." She angled her flight path towards the power plant, and they soon arrived. Thankfully, the sandstorm began to die down, and they all landed. The ground-mode Autobots all marched out of Skyfire, and allowed him to transform into bot mode.

"War Bird, where are the Decepticons?" Optimus Prime walked up beside her, as she turned her head to scan the surrounding area.

"They are inside… that building over there." She pointed to a building that was larger than the others. "They are in an underground section. I shall help to dig down there. You with me, sister?" She turned to Battle Star, who nodded, and they both transformed into complex digging and drilling machines. The sand went flying as they bore into the ground, and the other Autobots had to stand back to avoid getting buried. The Decepticons had been taking energy from the underground generators. When the two femmes broke through, the 'Cons didn't know what had hit them at first, until Battle Star transformed into her natural bot mode

"Autobots!" The voice was high and shrill, undoubtedly coming from Starscream. He pointed his null ray at her, but was met by a foot to the face. After the static in his optics had cleared, he saw a new femme, this one just as tall as Battle Star, and mainly red, with green and yellow. "You!" He recognized her right off. He had been lucky to not have been in the same battalion as those other seekers that she had destroyed.

"Yes. ME." War Bird leapt up onto her sister's shoulders, and after Battle Star had braced herself against the wall, launched straight at Megatron. She was fast, and in the blink of an eye, she had moved on from pummeling Megatron to exchanging blows with the Stunticons. Motormaster and the others of his gestalt merged into Menasor, but even as one, they were no match for War Bird. Her visor and battle mask covering her features and emotions, she was swift and deadly, using only a few well-placed kicks and punches to force Menosaur to fall apart. Soon, the other Autobots came in, but they could only stare at her ferocity in battle. They neither moved to stop her, nor to help her, they were just there. War Bird landed a well-placed kick right at the edge of where Soundwave's chest opened up to eject his cassettes, making it so that it couldn't let any of them out. Soon after, the Decepticons called for a retreat, and the battle was won.

"Prime, she's like a one-bot army!" Prowl stood at his leader's side, staring at the now-calm warrior. All Optimus could do was stare at her silently. _Such strength, such rage, how can she control it so well?_ Little did the Autobots know, their questions about their new addition to their forces would soon be answered in horrible, terrifying ways.

* * *

"War Bird, could you help me out here?" Wheeljack was, so far, the only Autobot other than Battle Star that was comfortable with working with War Bird, and was always happy when she agreed to help him.

"Sure, Wheeljack, it's not like I have anything else to do." She went over, and helped him lift a particularly heavy piece of equipment. "What's this for? Another explosion?"

"Hey! Not _everything_ I make goes up in smoke!"

"About 99% of it does, though. At least, that's from what I've seen."

"You've been keeping track?!"

"Don't have much else to do." Beneath her mask, War Bird was smirking.

"Well, I guess you're right. We need to find you something to do around here besides training and fighting. You any good at repairs?"

"I had to repair myself for about 4 million years? How good do you THINK I am?!"

"Just asking! Ratchet is a little overwhelmed right now, and I'm most needed trying to find scientific answers, so maybe you could help him out? He's had even more work ever since First Aid got transferred back to Cybertron."

"I'll… think about it." War Bird and Wheeljack finally managed to get the equipment to their designated area, and they put it down.

"Thanks for the help. You should go talk to Ratchet now. I hear he needs some recharge, since he's been working on the injured for about a week now nonstop."

"I think I'll do that." War Bird walked away, and soon entered the med bay.

"Can I… help you with anything, War Bird?" Ratchet's voice was tired and strained, as he continued to work on repairing the damage that Prowl had recently gained in the most recent "Wheeljack Explosion" incident.

"I would like to know if I may assist you in any way. I have extensive experience with repairing all kinds of damage." _Well, most kinds._ She was glad for her battle mask and visor, because it blocked Ratchet from seeing the crestfallen look on her face. As it was, Ratchet was visibly relieved.

"Could you finish up on Prowl, here? I haven't had a recharge in two weeks."

"I would be most happy to help. Just tell me where you left off, and I shall finish." After Ratchet tiredly explained what he had been doing, and after getting much assurance from War Bird that she had it covered, he went to his quarters to recharge. Taking up the tools that Ratchet had set aside, War Bird finished repairing the shrapnel damage in Prowl's right side from where bits of the wall had gone into him from the explosion, and repaired the armor on that side. That completed, she set the tools aside, and eased Prowl out of stasis.

"Wh-what are you going here?" Prowl was obviously shocked to see War Bird standing over him instead of Ratchet, but she took it in stride.

"I just finished repairing you. Ratchet got a bit too tired, so I took over. Just so you know that you can trust my ability to repair others, I had to repair myself and my comrades for 4 million years, so I am quite proficient."

"That's… good to know. Am I cleared for active duty?"

"You are. Feel free to leave." War Bird turned away to figure out where to clean the tools, and she heard his footsteps going out of the med bay. After she had cleaned up the med bay, she sat at Ratchet's desk, and started to think about all the times she had repaired the Autobots who had fought alongside her. Then, there was an explosion.

* _Jazz to med bay, please come in!_ *

War Bird went over to the med bay comm unit, and spoke into it. "This is the med bay, War Bird speaking. What just happened?"

* _Wait, why are YOU in the med bay, War Bird?_ *

"I am standing in as medic while Ratchet gets some much-needed recharge. What is going on over there?"

* _Wheeljack's latest invention just blew up, and he and a few others need some repairs. You can expect them there in a few minutes._ *

"I'll have everything ready for them." She cut the communication, and started to lay out tools for injuries from explosions and shrapnel. After cleaning the last berth, the Autobots came in with the wounded. Most of them looked a little shocked to see her there instead of Ratchet, but she quickly explained, and they all relaxed somewhat. From what she could see of the wounded, Wheeljack himself was in the worst condition. _He was probably standing right next to the thing when it blew._ The thought was somehow amusing to her as she worked on fixing the Autobots up. Those still conscious were nervous with her fixing them, but after seeing how careful she was with their friends, they relaxed and let her repair them. After sending the last of the newly repaired mechs out of the med bay, she looked at the time, and saw that she had been in there for a full solar cycle! Then, Ratchet came in.

"Anything happen while I was in recharge?" He immediately sat down at his desk, and looked through the report she had written up and placed there.

"You will find everything on that report. I need to go to my quarters for an hour or two. Call me if you need any more help."

"All right. I have to say, you turned out better than I expected."

"Thank you for the compliment." War Bird left the med bay, and walked to her quarters. The Autobots were a bit friendlier towards her now, but they were still cautious. She couldn't blame them. They had all read reports about how fierce she was in battle, and many of them had witnessed her fighting in the recent battle. She then realized that, out of the corner of her vision, she had seen Bluestreak cowering against the wall when he saw what she had become. Strangely, it did not bother her. It might have once, but not anymore. When she got into her room, she noticed that the camera had been replaced. Normally, she would have smashed it, but she didn't this time. She was just too tired. The battle, and the work in the med bay had drained her of energy, and she needed to recharge. Ignoring the fact that she was being watched, she went over to her berth, and lay down for recharge.

In the security room, Red Alert was surprised that she had not smashed the camera. Not that he was complaining, but he had wholly expected her to destroy it. As she recharged, he heard a faint, musical voice singing. " _I've got shame, I've got scars that I will never show, I'm a survivor, in more ways than you know. All the pain, and the truth, I wear like a battle wound…_ " The singing faded, and she was silent again. Red Alert thought back to the datapad with Prime's 5 million-year-old report from her battle on it. _She's ashamed to show her face, for fear of rejection?_ He glanced at the shelves on the wall of War Bird's room, and saw many strange and beautiful things. A sculpture made of metal, with curves, dips, and depressions in it, like a plume of steam rising from an Earth geyser. _Did she make that?_ Suddenly, she awoke, and immediately marched over to the camera, and punched it. The screen went black.

* * *

War Bird sat in her room, with her visor and battle mask lying beside her on the berth, as she attempted to clean the sand from her 5 million-year-old cuts on her face. She had very little success. Finally, she reattached her visor and battle mask, and marched straight to the wash racks. After making sure that nobody was there, she closed the door and locked it so that only her code would open it, and she punched out the camera. Walking right below a nozzle for the cleaning solution, she took off her visor and mask, and turned it on. Tipping her head up, the cleaning solution went into her cuts, and flowed back out, taking the sand particles with it. After every last speck of sand was gone, she dried herself off, and placed the mask and visor back over her face. No sooner than she did so, than she heard a loud knock on the door. She put the settings back to normal, and opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Why did you change the codes for the wash racks?" It was Red Alert.

"I needed some privacy while getting the sand off of me from the recent battle in the desert. I had to clean it out from beneath my mask and visor, and I DO NOT take those off without knowing fully that I can trust the ones who would witness it." War Bird looked like she was a storm about to break, and Red Alert recognized that, quickly excused himself, and left. War Bird went back to her quarters, and took out the sheet of metal and etching tool from before, and lay on her berth, sketching on the metal. Outside of her quarters, unknown to her, mechs listened as they heard the scratching of the tool, and the melodic humming of her voice. They had already seen a soft side to her, and they suddenly wanted to know more about who she really was inside.

* * *

"Ok, Prime, duck down, and roll right!" War Bird was in the middle of a training session with Optimus Prime, and they had quickly switched from Prime teaching her, to her teaching Prime. She kicked at him, then punched at him, and he quickly evaded her. Given, she was going slower than she usually did, just to make sure she didn't damage him too much. He missed the command on the next one, and got a solid kick to his right shoulder. "Prime, I told you to lean back!"

"Sorry, I missed that." Optimus winced, rubbing his sore shoulder. It was then that they noticed they had an audience. Approximately half of the mechs on the Ark were right outside of the shatterproof glass training area, watching the lessons play out. Both of the Autobots inside the training area decided to ignore them, and continued training as usual.

"All right, dodge left! Now jump to the right! Roll back, then punch with both hands!" War Bird shouted a string of commands, which Optimus tried his best to follow, though sometimes he would be just a bit too slow, and she would clip him with a punch or a kick. Soon, they were both tired, and a bit battered, Optimus more so than War Bird.

"How did I do, War Bird?" Optimus was hopeful for approval from this powerful warrior, feeling like a youngling, even though he was the leader of the Autobots.

"You did well, for a first session with me. I've taught quite a few others, but they did not have pre-earned experience like you do." War Bird did not even glance at him as she spoke, but Optimus took it as a compliment nonetheless. The other Autobots who had been watching started to leave, but a few of them decided to stick around to train, since they were there anyway. War Bird went back to her quarters, and locked her door. After retrieving her tool kit, she started to hammer out a dent in her battle mask, where Optimus had succeeded in punching her. Red Alert had not bothered to replace the security camera yet, so she didn't have to bother with first punching out the camera in her room. After repairing her mask, she went about fixing the few small dents in her arms, legs, and side. That out of the way, she took the etching tool and metal sheet out from behind her berth, and started to sketch again. Unconsciously, she started to softly sing a human lullaby she had heard while walking around a town.

 _Twinkle, twinkle, little star_

 _How I wonder what you are_

 _Up above the world so high_

 _Like a diamond in the sky_

 _Twinkle, twinkle little star_

 _How I wonder what you are_

 _When the blazing sun is gone_

 _When he nothing shines upon_

 _Then you show your little light_

 _Twinkle, twinkle, all the night_

 _Twinkle, twinkle, little star_

 _How I wonder what you are_

All the time she was singing, the others stood outside of her room, listening to the etching tool and the song, until both sounds stopped, and she started to move things around. They left, and shortly after, she went out of her quarters and went back to the training section of the ship/base. When she arrived, she saw that there were some mechs preparing to train, but few others actually were training. She saw the twins getting ready as well, and smiled under the battle mask. She knew that those two were a force to be reckoned with when fighting side-by-side, and decided that she would like to evaluate them.

"Excuse me, twins?" War Bird walked closer to them, and they turned to face her.

"Yes, War Bird?" She noticed that they immediately had stopped laughing and joking around with each other when she had approached.

"Would you mind if I trained with you two? I've rarely had the chance to fight with twins, and I would like to see how you two work together in a fight." War Bird's request gave them hints that she would also like to teach them a few of her tricks, and how to better fight as a team, so they glanced at each other.

"We'll do it. One thing though."

"Yes, Sunstreaker?"

"If we let you spar with us, you have to teach us some of your fighting moves."

If War Bird hadn't had the battle mask and visor on, they would have seen her smile, but she looked pleased nonetheless to the twins. "I would be most happy to teach you."

Just a few minutes later, the twins regretted their decision. As she taught them, they got countless dents and scratches, because they had trouble coordinating the attacks that she told them to do. Sure, she knew that they would work if they just DID them, but the twins were used to their own fighting style, and kept getting in each other's way, while leaving themselves open to her attacks. Even pulling her punches and kicks so that they wouldn't severely damage the twins, she still wiped the floor with them. Just like when War Bird was teaching Optimus, other Autobots crowded around outside of the sparring area, and watched. They started to enjoy having War Bird around, because she might be able to teach them how to better fight the 'Cons. As an added bonus, they were getting to see War Bird tag-teamed by the twins, and winning!

"Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! How many times must I tell you?! Red left, yellow rolls right! You need to learn to be able to fight someone who knows combination attacks like I do!" War Bird was an intense teacher, not letting them rest until the training session was over, and giving them both instructions at the same time. Finally, after what felt like forever getting punched and kicked to the twins, she called the training session to an end. "You two know the reason WHY even a single 'Con can wipe the floor with the both of you? You can't coordinate properly! I've seen Megatron in action, and Optimus can barely beat him most of the time!" Then, she marched out of the sparring room, and went to her quarters. All of the Autobots stared at the twins as they staggered out of the sparring room and on their way to Ratchet. In the security room, Red Alert made a mental note to request that the warriors each get the chance to train with War Bird to increase their skill in combat. Just then, the alarm sounded for the second time that day.

* * *

War Bird heard the alarm going off, but she was too tired to get off of her berth. She heard the footsteps of the other Autobots rushing past the door to her quarters, but she simply tuned them out. Just as she was on the verge of recharge, she received a frantic call on her comm. unit.

* _War Bird! We need your assistance! The Seekers have already taken out Prowl! The twins are trying to keep them occupied, but we desperately need help!_ * The transmission cut off after she heard someone firing a blaster, and she forced herself to sit up. She grabbed a cube of high grade, drank it down, and practically flew out of her quarters to join the fight. The high grade she drank had brought all of her systems back to full power, and she was feeling like she needed to fight something, or she would practically tear the base to pieces.

"I'm on my way, everyone! Watch the skies!" She sent the message to all of the Autobots, and when she dove down to join the fray, the Autobots cheered with joy. Immediately, War Bird made her way over to where the Twins were fighting with the Seekers, and joined them. "Hey, twins, remember what I taught you?"

"Of course we do. You drilled it into us. Literally." Sunstreaker did not sound amused.

"Hey, you needed to learn how to fight better. And I see that you've been trying your best, eh?"

"We have, but somehow, the Seekers seem… different."

"I can see that!" War Bird barely dodged a punch from Skywarp, and turned on her special tracking feature on her visor so that she would be able to find him while he teleported. He teleported, as expected, and she picked up the beginnings of his return teleportation right behind Sunstreaker. She quickly pulled a sword from subspace, and stuck the blade right in the middle of the disturbance. When Skywarp materialized an instant later, he had the blade sprouting from his abdomen, and he crumpled to the ground. After studying his programming for a few seconds, War Bird found that there was a personality inhibitor device installed in him. She did a quick scan, and stabbed a dagger into his left side, impaling the inhibitor. She did the same thing to the other two Seekers, and they both returned to normal, just to find her foot in their faces.

"How did you do that?" Sideswipe looked at War Bird in awe, barely believing his optics. "How did you know what was wrong with them?"

"It's something I will discuss at a later time. First, we need to win this battle." The three moved on to join the main force, and War Bird headed the next attack with her sister, Battle Star. Suddenly, both Menasor and Devastator came up in front of them, and grabbed the sisters. The other Autobots fired on them, but the combined gestalt teams merely laughed and dropped only Battle Star. As War Bird struggled, she saw Megatron on Menasor's shoulder, and felt a hot rage. Her struggling increased, and she managed to break one arm free, but too late. Megatron shot her in the abdomen, and Devastator released her completely into Menasor's grip. In turn, Menasor raised her above his head, and threw her into the ground with all of his strength. The impact of her hitting the ground made a small crater. Enraged, Battle Star took out her sword and giant, double-bladed battle axe, and started to hack, slash, and stab at the gestalt. She was backed up by the other Autobots, and the Decepticons soon retreated.

* * *

 _Beep…_

 _Beep…_

 _Beep_ …

War Bird couldn't online her optics. Faintly, she heard voices in the background, but her processor couldn't make sense of the words.

"Ratchet, what's her condition?"

"If it were any worse, she would be dead."

"How could she be defeated like that? I could see her struggling, but she was only able to get one arm free before it was too late…"

"She was lower on energy than she normally would have been after receiving those injuries. Probably because of her sparring so often today. First you, then the twins."

Shuffling noises, like someone changing the position of their feet.

"Ratchet… what is this component?"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it. I'll check the database for anything that is similar to it."

The sound of someone typing on a keyboard broke through the mostly-silence, and then it stopped.

"The closest I can come to a match is an emotion inhibitor. After scanning it, I would place the date it was installed to… 5 million years ago."

"That's when she changed! Right after the last battle where she didn't wear the mask and visor! Perhaps that's what makes her unable to love others."

"It's so severely damaged as to be almost unrecognizable. I'll have to take it out."

"Just save her, Ratchet. We can't lose even a single experienced warrior."

"I'll do my best, Prime."

"Oh, and please try to repair the damage to her mask and visor. I doubt she would be happy if they were to remain damaged like that."

"Will do, Prime."

 _Beep…_

 _Beep…_

 _Beep…_

 _Beep…_

* * *

As Ratchet went about repairing War Bird, he heard the doors open. When he turned around, Mirage, the twins, Bluestreak, and Battle Star were standing in the med bay. They weren't damaged, but they seemed worried.

"Why are you five in here?"

"We wanted to see how War Bird is doing."

"Well, I can tell you right now that she won't be training OR fighting on the battlefield for a while now."

"Can… can we stay with her?"

Ratchet vented air in a sigh. He knew that there would be no turning them away. "Very well, just don't get in my way. Lucky for War Bird, I have experience repairing wings from all the times that I had to repair yours, Battle Star."

The five other Autobots pulled up chairs to watch Ratchet repair War Bird, and Bluestreak's seat was the closest. "She will be all right, won't she?"

"I believe she will. If she's lucky, she will look as if the battle never happened. If she's not lucky or unlucky, she may be crippled for life. If she's not lucky at all, she will probably die."

"Just… just save her, Ratchet."

Ratchet nodded, and turned back to repairing War Bird. He finally figured out how to disengage her battle mask and visor, and when he did, he recoiled in shock. "So that's why she always hid her face."

Bluestreak was out of his seat like a shot. "What, what?!"

Ratchet turned slowly to look at him, his body still blocking her face from the others' view.

"Her face is… completely scarred."


	3. Chapter 3, The Lost is Found

War Bird onlined to find herself in the med bay, but it didn't look as it would if she was using her visor. She turned her head to the left, and saw a battered piece of metal and a cracked and chipped piece of special translucent material on the table beside her. With a start, she realized that those were her battle mask and visor! She tried to sit up, but she felt pain stabbing into her, and she lay back down. She realized that her wings were stretched out on either side of her, and when she looked, they were a bit mangled.

"Ah, good, you're awake." War Bird turned her head, and saw Ratchet come into the room.

"Wh-what happened? Last thing I remember… I was fighting the two gestalt teams, and…"

"It's all right. We won the battle. With a bit of luck, you'll make a full recovery." Then, his expression hardened. "Care to tell me about this?" He gestured to her face.

"It-it's a long and painful story for me to tell."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere until I hear it."

"Very well." She sighed, and then began her tale. She spoke of the first battle in which she was wounded, of the 'Con called The Shredder, of how she fought him, how he injured her, how she killed him. She told of how she flew away like a coward, hiding her face, how she went to her sister for help, but her powers could not heal her face. How she attempted to self-repair, only to have the cuts reopen every time she welded them together. How she finally gave up, and installed her emotion inhibitor, and took up the battle mask and visor. When she was finally done, Ratchet was hanging his head in disbelief.

"And you say that nothing you did was able to repair those cuts?"

"Yes. I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked."

"Would you mind if I tried? There must be something that could be done."

"You can try, but I can't say that I have much faith in this."

"Do you have any pictures of what you looked like before… this?" He gestured to her face again.

"Yes. A small datapad in my quarters, top shelf, in the middle, in the section near the door."

"Right. Is there anyone you could trust enough to go and bring it here?"

"Well… I would probably trust Prime. He seems to be a good enough Autobot to me. It's just that… I don't trust that many people. I-I lost my faith in others a few million years ago. Every time someone told me that I could trust them, they broke that trust. I will now only give my trust if I know that they will do me no harm."

"Prime would never harm you willingly! He would only go against you if he was either under Decepticon mind control, or if he absolutely had no other choice!"

"No need to yell! I get your point. But surely, you can see my reasoning for being careful."

"I can. I understand why you are reluctant to trust others, but you need to learn to trust us."

"Just get the picture already!"

Ratchet sent the message to Prime, who, surprisingly, agreed right away to fetch the picture that was requested from War Bird's quarters. He took a moment to orient himself amongst the many sculptures and devices in her quarters then went to the section of shelving that was between the berth and the door. Fixing where the middle of the shelving was, he actually had to stretch up to try to see where the small datapad was. Finding it, he turned it on to make sure, and immediately was staring into silver optics. _She's beautiful!_ Optimus walked briskly out of the room, and closed the door. When he got to the med bay, he froze in the door. War Bird's face was turned away from him, but he could see the remains of her mask and visor on the table beside her. Slowly, he walked over, and handed the small datapad to Ratchet.

"How is she?"

"Healing. I'm going to be attempting to repair some 5 million-year-old cuts right now, so I needed the picture." Ratchet turned the datapad on, and started to study War Bird's facial features.

"She used to be so beautiful…" Optimus glanced over at War Bird, who was now watching them intently with silver optics. He nearly winced when he saw the multitude of cuts on her face, and remembered how she flew away from the battle 5 million years ago.

"Well, I'm going to keep this picture propped up nearby to I can refer to it as I try to repair her. I'll try to restore her beauty." Ratchet walked over to her, and propped up the datapad against the remains of her battle mask. He placed War Bird into stasis, and took out some tools. As he labored over her facial features, he kept cursing as the cuts he put back together split apart again. Finally, he found a treatment that worked. He had to work on her face under a black light, and he found that there were deposits of something on the edges of each cut. After he scraped all of that unknown material off of her face, the cuts stayed fixed when he put them back together. After two solar cycles, Ratchet had finally closed up every single cut and scratch on War Bird's face, and when he compared his handiwork to the old picture, he could not find even a single difference. After 5 million years, she was once again serene, beautiful, and flawless. He brought her out of stasis, and her optics flickered on with their silver light.

"Did-did it work?" Her voice was uncertain, hesitant. Ratchet could understand why. She had gone 5 million years with those injuries, and had lost all hope of getting them fixed.

"It worked. Take a look for yourself." Ratchet held up a mirror, and War Bird gasped when she saw her face. It had been 5 million years since she had looked like that. Her left hand flew up to her face, feeling where each cut had used to be, as if trying to be certain that they were gone.

"Ratchet, I-I don't know how to thank you…"

"Then don't thank me. The only reward I needed was seeing you happy about yourself again." Ratchet smiled, then handed her a small datapad. "I… thought you might want to save a picture of what you looked like before I repaired you. Just as a keepsake."

"Thank you." War Bird took the datapad from him, and turned it on, gazing at the horrifying scars that used to mark her face. She glanced at the ruined mask and visor on the table beside her, and set the picture down. "Will you repair the rest of my damage now?"

"Yes. Prime wants you up on your feet as soon as possible."

* * *

As War Bird walked out of the med bay, ruined mask and visor in one hand, two datapads in the other, mechs stared at her newly repaired face in awe. Her wings were tucked against her back in braces, so that they would heal properly over the next few days. She was smiling, making her features even lovelier to the eyes of the other Autobots, and humming some soft tunes she had picked up on Earth. She felt love for the base for the first time. As she thought of her sisters, she felt sisterly love for them, too. She passed Bluestreak in the hall, and smiled at him. He smiled back, uncertainly, but he grew more confident as she laughed at a joke that she heard Jazz tell to Prowl. Her laugh was light and happy, like chimes in the wind, and mechs all down the corridor poked their heads out of the doors to see who was laughing. They all froze when they saw War Bird, but she paid them no heed. She went on to enter her quarters, and she closed the door behind her. She saw that Red Alert had once again replaced the camera in her room, but she didn't care. She set her ruined mask and visor on the top shelf with her pictures, and took the sheet of metal and the etching tool out from behind her berth. As she sketched, she began to sing.

" _I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire, 'cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar louder, louder than a lion, 'cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roa-a-a-a-ar, roa-a-a-a-ar, roa-a-a-a-ar, you're gonna hear me roa-ar!_ " In the security room, Red Alert listened to her singing, and smiled. Somehow, she was beautiful again, and he was glad that she hadn't punched out the camera like she usually did. As he watched the screen that had the camera in the corridor right outside of her door, he saw a multitude of mechs listening to her singing and the scratching of the etching tool. Many of them were smiling, and Red Alert knew why. War Bird had finally connected with them and shown her true colors.

* * *

War Bird was training the twins again. This time, however, her training routine was a bit easier for them. She let them rest sometimes, and she pulled her punches and kicks more. The twins also found it a bit easier to follow her instructions.

"Red duck right while yellow swings left! Yellow jumps up while red slides down!" War Bird had, as usual gathered an audience to her training sessions without even trying to. Her attacks got more complex as the twins got better, and soon the twins were facing her contortion-based attacks which were extremely hard to dodge. As usual, the twins and War Bird finished with a bunch of dents and scratches on them, but they found it easier to train with her knowing that she was actually a living thing, and not some faceless robot. "Great job, you two. Much more improvement from last time. Remember, when you are trying to dodge, you have to try to anticipate where they are aiming to hit you at."

"Right. We'll remember that." Sunstreaker and Sideswipe made their way through the crowd to the med bay for some light repairs, and War Bird took out a datapad that she had been keeping track of their progress on. Under "Twins", she placed the percentage of training they had gone through, and then set it aside. Next up on the training schedule was Bumblebee. War Bird looked through the crowd, until she found him. Grabbing his hand, she led him to the training area. Optimus had assigned a specific training block for her fighting lessons, and she was happy for it. It was the biggest one, and so they had plenty of room to spar in.

Three hours later, Bumblebee and War Bird were finished training. Bumblebee had quite a few new dents and scratches in his armor, because he was less experienced than the others. First, War Bird had to figure out how proficient he was, and then start at the level he needed to. Bumblebee had improved by two levels by the time they were done, and was extremely tired. He was her last student for the day, so War Bird packed up her record-keeping supplies and went to her quarters for some energon and recharge. Before she slipped into recharge, she worked on her sketch for a bit more, and then put it back behind her berth. In recharge, she was no longer plagued by nightmares about that battle, and her recharge was peaceful for the first time in 5 million years.

* * *

"I am saddened to see you leave, War Bird." Optimus shook hands with the femme warrior, who smiled sadly in return.

"I know. I shall return one day to assist you again, but until then, I shall say farewell." Then, she slipped him a datapad. "Here, this will give you instructions on how to find my gift for all of you. Go to my quarters, and decipher the riddles, and you will find it soon enough." War Bird spread her red, green, and yellow wings, and flew away. Below her, the Autobots waved good-bye to the femme warrior who had become their friend. When she was out of sight, they went back inside the Ark, and Optimus decided to see what she had left them.

When he got to her old quarters, he read the datapad, finding that the riddle was fairly simple. _Behind the place I lay down to rest, the hiding place I liked the best._ Optimus went over to her berth, and stuck his hand behind it. He felt something flat and square, and he brought it out. Gazing at the picture on the sheet of metal for a while, he then brought it to the rec room, and hung it on the wall. The other Autobots crowded around it to look, and they all nearly burst into tears when they saw it. Sketched in the sheet of metal, was a picture of War Bird flying over the Ark, all of the other Autobots somehow flying with her, and Battle Star at her side. The image of War Bird was so realistic, that they all found themselves missing her greatly. Then, they all noticed something in the bottom right corner.

 _To all those who wanted to trust me, who wanted to know me, I give a gift wrought of my own hands and patience, so that I may be remembered in the time to come._


End file.
